The concept of tribes has been talked about in the marketing business for decades as a strategy to build and grow your audience.
By giving people a feeling of belonging, you are able to create more longlasting relationships, that will lead to customers returning.
But with a Microtribe, you as a No-Code entrepreneur are given a power similar to what the really big tech companies have.
What is a Microtribe?
Compared to the common description of a tribe in marketing, a Microtribe is smaller, and much more closely connected to you as a No-code founder or maker.
In short, a Microtribe can be described as:
- A relatively small (~25-100 ppl) group of highly engaged fans
- An extremely narrow and well-defined target group
- Getting a super-high payoff from your product
- Will act as ambassadors and market your product for you
The strength is in the (low) numbers, it will make it manageable for you as a founder.
Nurtured in the right way, a Microtribe is a very powerful part in building and growing your audience and business.
[READING TIP: How To Build an Audience Before Launching Your No-Code Project]
A relatively small group of highly engaged fans
Most founders are trying to reach a huge group of people as soon as possible.
Reaching a lot of people today requires a lot of either time or money – the two things that are generally quite scarce in the launch phase of a No-code product.
Instead of trying to find as many people as possible, creating a Microtribe focuses on getting in touch with the right people.
100 people from the exact right target group are worth a lot more than 10 000 random internet strangers.
An extremely narrow and well-defined target group
A lot of creators and makers are doing one very costly mistake.
They are trying to be for “everyone”.
What you should do is to pick a very narrow niche market – like “wedding photographers focused on same-sex weddings, that wants to earn more money per wedding”.
At first, it might seem counterintuitive – but the more precise you are, the less competition you’ll have and the easier it is for you to reach them.
Take books, for example; the more general it is, the harder it is to sell.
People don’t buy books on “How To Live Healthier” – it is too big, too hard to grasp.
It is easier – and more concrete – if I am presented with one problem to solve and the concrete solution.
The books that focus on a very specific problem, for a very specific kind of people have a much better chance to succeed.
Focusing on this very specific niche audience will not exclude a wider, larger audience though.
Gets a super-high payoff from your product
When you know the exact kind of person that will use your product, you know the exact problems they are having and how to solve that for them.
Because the product is built to serve this particular niche, it will do it very well and give a huge return for anyone using it.
What will that make them?
- Happy.
- Really happy.
- Tell others about it.
Will act as ambassadors and market your product for you
Choosing to target a small niche market will make sure that someone will buy or use the product.
This will set the ball rolling.
This small group of superfans, that love how you just helped them improve their life by getting rid of a really annoying problem, will start telling others – especially if you give them the tools to do it.
Now, the circle of potential buyers and users will widen. From the super-narrow Microtribe to the surrounding audience.
If your Microtribe consists of “No-code makers building websites using Bubble.io and struggle to make the design look good”, the surrounding audience can widen, to “Everyone using a visual website building tool”.
Why do I need a Microtribe?
As a sole entrepreneur, Maker or No-coder you don’t have a marketing team to trust with doing outreach, creating content or setting up social ads.
It all falls on you. That doesn’t there are not people to help you.
By focusing on building a tight Microtribe, you’ll get the same kind of power as one of the large corporations out there!
Your Microtribe will the ones:
- Testing your product for bugs, before (and after launch) and give feedback.
- “Hunt” your product for sites like Producthunt
- Buying the product as soon as it launch (and every other product you’ll be creating)
- Talk to others about it and push them to join
In short, your Microtribe will give your one-man-show the power of a we-have-so-many-employees-we-have-out-own-coffee-shop-company!
[READING TIP: Want To Grow an Audience from Day 1? Pick a F*cking side!]
Damn, how do I get one?!
Here comes the hard truth; a Microtribe is not built in a day.
There are no shortcuts, and you need to understand that hardly anyone will help you because they want you to succeed.
Yes, you helped them solve them to a better life, but that will only get you so far.
To harness the power of your Microtribe there are a few steps you need to take:
Define who they are
If you can answer these three questions about your product or tool, you’ll have a very good understanding of who the potential members of your Microtribe are.
What does it DO?
Hopefully, your project is focused on solving one very specific problem for its users. Describe that problem in as few words as possible. What task does it do?
WHO is its ideal user?
Now, who is the ideal user of your product? This is the super-narrow, niche audience we are talking about. Don’t worry about going to narrow.
What will they GET (win) from using it?
Here’s the $10.000 question. What will be improved in this ideal user’s life after using your tool or product? What did she “win”?
Create “Magnet Content” for your Microtribe
Whenever someone helps you out, you have a natural urge to return that favor.
Creating content that is connected to the win that your product will give its users is twofold;
First, it will attract that ideal user that your product is built for. It becomes an automatic selection process.
Secondly, it will give them value, which will make them start thinking about how to return the favor.
Magnet Content is pieces of content that are crafted to attract the exact niche audience that you want in your Microtribe.
I schedule at least 10 tweets a day (using HypeFury which is great for that), and the only goal with those is to add value to my potential Microtribe.
My niche audience is No-code makers, that are struggling to grow an audience. So I write about stuff that will help them.
There’s no blueprint here, you’ll have to start somewhere and see what works!
Gather the members
Now, here’s where it starts to become really important to pay attention.
People will start sharing, liking, retweeting your content.
These are your Microtribe members.
Have a way to collect these people somehow.
On Twitter, I have a hidden list where I put everyone showing a lot of interest in what I post.
People sharing and commenting a lot, asking questions and so on.
Another great way to collect people’s contact info is with an email list.
Give them the VIP treatment
Building your first Microtribe will take time – and don’t worry about that.
But make sure to show appreciation as soon as you have the first person on your list:
- Ask questions
- Share content you find online or tag them in tweets
- Share the process of building or upgrading your product
The real power in building a strong relationship with your Microtribe comes from continuing to give.
Show them that they are not just random Internet weirdos to you.
One of the most powerful ways to give value to people is to connect them with others with the same views and values.
Creating a private WhatsApp-group for your Microtribe might boost their involvement in your cause.
Make them feel valued and valuable!
Give them the tools to help
If you’ve started building your Microtribe before launch, and done a good job nurturing those relationships, you’ll have a very powerful force behind you.
Keep in mind though, that humans are quite lazy. And in today’s world, they have about the same attention span as a goldfish with ADHD.
Even though they feel really connected to you and what you do, make it easy for them to help you!
Don’t be afraid to ask them (several times) to do whatever you want them to do.
Don’t force them to figure it out themselves – serve whatever you want them to share on a silver platter.
Share your goals, your values and your vision with them – in bite-size chunks.
The best way to have people share something is to give them a reason to do it.
A monetary incentive is usually not the best way (even if coupons and affiliate links could work).
Members of your Microtribe don’t want to feel like they are your private zombie sales force.
Instead, help them look good and help others;
- Write a really useful blog post that they can share with people like themselves.
- Give them a link with a free month of your product to share
- Interview them (as a beta user) and post it on social media
If you can give them a chance to help you, and at the same time help themselves and their network – you are already winning!
Conclusion
This is just a very short introduction to how you as a digital entrepreneur can harness the power of Microtribes.
When done right, you can create your own small army, that will help you spread the word and grow your business.
I will continue to write about how to build your own Microtribe. Sign up on my private mailing list and I’ll send you an update as soon as I publish anything new!